Performance report 2021

Comment

We rated our overall performance against this theme as orange, given four of the seven agreed targets were met.

While we fell short on meeting our target for Indicator 1f - Number of planned interruptions going over advised times, it’s important to consider the result in context – out of 141 planned isolations, only three isolations or 2.1% went over the agreed time. All were completed with quality results, but took longer than expected because the location of the asset was either obstructed or difficult to get to, or the special techniques, materials and parts required to complete the repair.

On Monday 21 June 2021, a routine water quality compliance sample from the Boisdale water supply system was tested for E.Coli and returned a result of 1 organisms/100mL. 

The standard specified in the Safe Drinking Water Regulations is 0 organisms/100mL. We investigated the incident and submitted a report to the Department of Health, which confirmed that the detection was E.Coli. We put immediate corrective actions in place with no subsequent samples showing E.Coli detections, confirming the water was safe to drink.

Comment

We rated our performance against this target green because we achieved all of our targets.

This is our third consecutive year of no complaints escalating and requiring investigation by Energy and Water Ombudsman (Victoria).

We continue to provide our customers with a good experience when interacting with us by resolving the majority of enquiries at first point.

Using our complaints management framework and policy has contributed to our good results, streamlining our processes and improving customer response times and experience.

Comment

We rated our performance against this outcome green, on the basis that we achieved all of our targets.

From 1 July 2021, our customers started to see a further reduction in their bills. This is the third year in a row we’ve been able to reduce our service charges while usage charges have stayed relatively stable. In 2021-22, the average bill for a residential owner occupier was reduced by an average of $14 – double the $7 average saving for regional water corporations around the state.

The impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic are still being felt by our community. We’re mindful of this and have adapted our processes to continue to ensure anyone experiencing financial difficulties receives the best possible care from us. 

We’ve been proactively reaching out to customers that may be struggling financially to let them know the options that are available to assist them and ultimately help them better manage their bills. As a result, the number of customers taking up payment plans during 2020-21 has increased, while the number of customers entering into our hardship program has decreased.

Helping our customers manage what they pay also helps us. By supporting our customers in financial difficulty, we’ve been able to reduce our 90 day debt and strengthen our overall financial position.

Comment

We assessed our performance for this outcome area as orange, primarily due to a low-level technical EPA licence breach.

Our overall emissions from electricity consumption decreased by less than one per cent (177t CO 2-e) compared to last financial year and overall, we remain on-track to achieve our target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by over 24% by 2025. We achieved a one per cent (40 t CO 2-e) decrease in our water treatment emissions compared to the previous year, primarily due to the completion of our Moe-Warragul interconnect pipeline.

We constructed large solar installations at two more sites, meaning that six of our largest sites are now solar-operated. This helps reduce our overall emissions from the electricity consumption by a combined 1142 t CO 2-e or four per cent of our overall electricity consumption. All have been carefully planned to help us reduce our reliance on grid electricity in the future.

We continued to focus on finding operational efficiencies and kept our emissions consistent, despite undertaking major maintenance activities that meant our Biogas (Cogen) renewable energy system at the Gippsland Water Factory was out of action for extended periods of time.

We also continued preparations for the next stage of our solar installations at the Gippsland Water Factory, which will see a 1200 kWp ground-mounted solar array installed and operational in 2021-22. This system is expected to generate enough energy reduce our annual greenhouse gas emissions by upwards of 2,000 t CO 2-e each year.

We’re on track to deliver the actions in our 2017 Urban Water Strategy, however the Boisdale aquifer long-term assessment is yet to start as it requires input from other organisations, such as DELWP and Southern Rural Water. DELWP in particular will be undertaking sustainability assessments of all Victorian aquifers during their EC5 funding tranche (2020-24), which will inform our work.

We met our performance target of at least 95% water supply reliability and no water restrictions imposed during 2020-21. Average demand levels in all of our systems remains below the current climate baseline yield as estimated in our 2017 Urban Water Strategy. 

Demand in our Tarago system continues to increase with high urban growth in Warragul and Drouin and our recently commissioned Moe-Warragul interconnect pipeline will help us continue to meet our supply reliability target. We’re currently reviewing all of our system demand and yield outlooks as we develop our 2022 Urban Water Strategy. This will take into account updated growth trends, DELWP climate guidelines, recent climate and water resource history.

The penalty issued by the EPA related low-level technical breaches of our EPA Drouin wastewater plant operating license during higher than average rainfall events. 

While no harm was done to the environment as a result of the breach, it provided further evidence of the importance of our $55 million Drouin wastewater treatment plant upgrade project, which is now well-advanced.

Comment

We assessed our performance against this outcome area as green, on the basis that we achieved all of our targets.

We developed a measure for tracking our operating (including our +300 employee labour cost) and capital expenditure spend across our service area. Our Drouin wastewater treatment plant upgrade project accounted for 17% of our expenditure, with the head contractor being Melbourne-based. 

While this will remain the case for 2021-22, we anticipate our operating and capital expenditure will return to historical levels of around 60% sourced from within our service area.

We spent $64,261.50 on community benefit projects this year, more than doubling our target of $30,000. Of this amount, $11,841 was awarded to local community and not-for-profit organisations through our annual Community Support Program. A further $52,420.50 went to community health and environmental initiatives, including new 18 permanent drinking water installed throughout the region in partnership with local government and the community.

Over and above these financial contributions, we continued to support other community-focused initiatives including opening up environmentally important sites for recreational access; delivering community and school education programs; providing in-kind communications support to the Gippsland Emergency Relief Fund and supporting environmental projects.